PINUS PINASTEK. 153 



belongs. Lambert describes it as distinct under Tenore's name, in which. 

 he is doubtfully followed by Loudon, who would refer it to Pinus 

 Laricio. Parlatore brings it under P. pyrenaica, and Sprengel under 

 P. Pinaster, to which its long leaves and clustered cones seem to 

 indicate the nearest affinity. 



Pinus Pinaster Hamiltonii is one of the best of the numerous 

 varieties of P. Pinaster. In its maturity in this country, it is an 

 elegant 'well-furnished tree, with rounded top, its leaves being shorter 

 and paler in colour than those of the species. 



It was introduced in 1825 by the Earl of Aberdeen, from the neigh- 

 bourhood of Nice. 



The timber of Pinus Pinaster is of little use ; the wood is soft and 

 soon decays. The resinous products are, however, of great value, and 

 the procuring of them is an important branch of industry in the 

 province of Guienne and other parts of France. So profitable is this 

 source of wealth, that, notwithstanding the abundanee of the P. Pinaster 

 throughout southern Europe, it is extensively cultivated on the sandy 

 tracts adjoining the Bay of Biscay, where it grows with great rapidity, 

 and soon yields an ample return for the labour bestowed upon it. 



" In the departments of the Gironde and Dordogne, the Pine woods 

 afford a most efficacious protection against the encroachments of the 

 sea. Some fifty years ago great apprehension existed of the destruction 

 of the Medoc country by inundation, as the banks of sand, which are 

 the only barriers against it, were observed to be yielding. The idea 

 then occurred of planting Pinus Pinaster, in order to bind the sand, 

 and the result has been most satisfactory." * 



In Great Britain Pinus Pinaster is only useful as an ornamental 

 tree and for shelter, especially in proximity to the sea, as it will grow 

 not only under exposure to the sea breeze, but also in shifting sands, 

 which it is enabled to do by the form taken by its roots. These 

 roots are, as Loudon points out, different in some respects to those of 

 any other Pine in cultivation. " There is a more decided tap root, 

 and when the soil is dry and sandy, it descends perpendicularly into 

 it j in proportion as the perpendicular roots are stronger than those 

 of other Pines, the horizontal roots are weaker, a disadvantage as 

 regards transplanting, but which is more than counterbalanced by its 

 firm hold in the soil, whence it is seldom torn up by the roots by 

 Storms." t 



There is probably no single species of Pine that has become more 

 Widely distributed over the globe than Pinus Pinaster, and which has 

 adapted itself more readily to the various conditions of soil and climate 



* Gardeners' Chronicle, 1871, p. 137. t Loudon, Arb. et Frut., p. 2219. 



